


Escape

by Moonalight



Series: Death's Beloved [5]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:21:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27327214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonalight/pseuds/Moonalight
Summary: Light has another bad day, and Ryuk just wants to get him away from it all...
Relationships: Ryuk/Yagami Light
Series: Death's Beloved [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987315
Comments: 3
Kudos: 98





	1. Bored

******  
Light was so bored. What even was school for? He already knew everything that was taught. Anything he didn’t, he learned immediately. All it did was serve to waste several hours in a day. To spend time among the sheep and build up his perfect image. 

But Light wasn’t even feeling properly bored today. He was just feeling done. Done with anything and everything. It was one of those days, and his companion had seemingly recognized that pretty quickly.

Ryuk hadn’t even nagged him about getting an apple that morning. The shinigami had gone down to the apple bowl and gotten one for himself. It had been quite the shock. There’d been no rushing him out of bed, no constant complaints as he walked to school at a stuttering pace. 

He’d even pulled the human away from a bike he’d come close to walking into.

And now he was just sitting. Sitting and staring at a board full of things he already knew. It was only early morning, and he had a whole day full of this. 

He sighed, propping his chin up with his hand as he listened to the teacher ask some stupid question worded differently for the gazillienth time. How did people cope with not being a genius?

It seemed like a horrible way to live.

“Hey Light,” Ryuk’s voice near his ear made him start slightly, sitting up straight on reflex. He blinked dazedly out of his drift, realizing that he’d started to doze off. 

Light tilted his head to the side slightly. A small acknowledgement to the god. 

“Why don’t you just leave?” The shinigami asked puzzledly, his tone oddly soft in a way that didn’t grate on the sensitive human’s ears, “You’re having another bad day.”

So he had noticed. But he couldn’t leave. This was school! Torment for twelve years of your life, and sometimes more if you chose to make something out of yourself. Leaving now would cause problems. It would-

Light drifted, staring at the desk below him in quiet contemplation. 

What trouble would it really cause? He’d always been an excellent student. The perfect student. His parents might never even find out. If they did, he could easily come up with an excuse they would believe. 

The teachers all loved him. What would they do? 

Really, Ryuk was right. Why didn’t he just leave?

Light hesitated. His fingers curled into themselves as he thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it. Stuck in a loop that often only came about on his bad days. He couldn’t bring himself to act. 

He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath. And then he felt a hand on his arm. A big, strong grip that wrapped entirely around his bicep and pulled him from his chair. 

Ryuk discreetly handed him his bag, just as people in the class began to turn towards the star pupil that had stood. Light heard his teacher ask him something, but he was a bit too busy holding in his reaction to actually listen. 

There was no turning back now. 

He let the death god press a palm into the small of his back and lead him towards the door. Ignoring everything else as if it didn’t exist.

And he let Ryuk lead him right out the door. Once he was out of sight, he shouldered his bag, and he ran.


	2. Invitation

******  
“I’ve never done this before,” Light murmured for what felt like the hundredth time. Here he was, Kira, God of the new world, feared and respected by the old world, holder of a Death Note, and companion to a death god...

And he was absolutely terrified about the fact that he’d ditched school. 

“You know Light,” Ryuk bit into the apple he’d snagged from Light’s bag gingerly, like he was actually thinking about something other than the succulent treat, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this panicked about something. What’s the problem? School was upsetting you so you left. I’m pretty sure that’s just taking care to keep your mental health stable...or whatever it is you call yours.” 

Light chuckled breathlessly, dropping his head into his hands as he tried to breathe past the large block in his lungs. 

It hadn’t been hard to get out of school. No one had even questioned him leaving. There may be questions later, but for now he was free. And he had no clue what to do with that freedom. 

“Hey, Light,” he blinked, dropping his hands to stare at the sudden slice of red that was offered to him, “Want a slice? Apples make everything better.” 

The human just looked at the apple piece silently for a moment. Then, slowly, reached out to take it. Unsure if the shinigami would take back the offer or not. He expected the clawed hand to pull away suddenly as he took hold.

But no. Ryuk let him take the fruit slice. 

Light stared at the apple for a moment, suddenly aware that he couldn’t remember the last time he'd eaten one. Sure, he spent loads of money buying them, but it wasn’t like he was the one that ate them. 

“Aren’t they pretty?” The god of death asked him with a snicker, his unnerving eyes watching carefully as the boy lifted it to his lips, “The same red as your mouth.” 

Heat crept up Light’s neck at that comment. He bit into the apple, tearing off a piece to chew as he watched Ryuk finish his part of the fruit. They were lucky no one else was in the park. Otherwise they would be fielding questions about floating apples.

He was still surprised no one had caught them with how often the shinigami insisted on getting his treats when they were out and about. 

Light looked up at the sky as he took another bite. It was still morning, relatively early. They had the whole day, and nothing to do. Writing down a bunch of names would only make him suspicious when Ryuuzaki found out...

He paused, staring at the last bit of apple a little angrily. His nails dug into the fragile thing, sending juice down his fingers. 

“I don’t owe them anything,” Light decided out loud, glaring at the little fruit as he squeezed harder, imagining it was L’s head and not an apple slice, “They can all think I’m Kira or whatever they want. My life is mine.”

“But you are Kira,” Ryuk pointed out, startling the human out of his angry fantasy. A large hand wrapped around Light’s wrist, raising his dripping fingers upward. 

That long, inhuman tongue dropped from the shinigami’s mouth, flicking out toward his hand. It swept up the remaining apple bit, wrapping around Light’s fingers entirely to lick up the dripping lines. 

He shuddered at the feeling of wet skin against his long digits. His eyes fluttered, meeting Ryuk’s unblinking stare as he worked. Licking away all of the juice until Light’s hand was completely clean. A little wet, but clean. 

He swallowed as the shinigami pulled away, dropping his hand slowly without looking away from those yellow and red eyes. Then, “Is there anywhere you want to go?”

Ryuk tilted his head, straightening up to tower over Light easily, “Go?”

“Yeah. Anywhere you want to see or do?” Light shrugged, trying to cover up his embarrassment, “We have the whole day.” 

For a moment the god just stared. Then, he smiled wide. 

“Yeah, actually. It’s a date.”

Light felt more heat crawl over him, but he smiled regardless, getting to his feet. He grabbed at his bag, wiping his hand down his pants uncaringly, “Great. Just lead the way. Provided it’s within travel distance, and not too expensive.” 

A date with a shinigami. How interesting.


	3. Old Roots

******  
The place Ryuk had wanted to go was a forest. It was just a short ways outside the city, a bit of a ride by train but not too far. Light had to admit he was confused about what they were doing in such a place. He didn’t exactly spend an excessive amount of time in nature. 

But he had told Ryuk they’d go where he wanted, so he followed the winged god into the trees. 

“You know where you’re going?” Light asked after they’d been walking through the dense foliage for a while. He wasn’t wearing clothing made for this. His school uniform was not having a good time. 

Strangely, he was. He enjoyed the mystery. And he enjoyed not having to think for a bit. His bad mood from that morning was all but gone. 

“We’re just about there,” Ryuk told him, holding aside a large branch so Light could pass through easier, “Just through here.” 

“Why do you know about this place?” The human asked curiously, ducking under another low hanging branch, “It’s pretty far off the road.” 

“I came here once before,” the shinigami explained, floating straight through a tree in his path that Light had to skirt around, “A couple decades ago. It should still be here.”

“A couple-” Light chuckled, shaking his head as he cut himself off. Sometimes it was easy to forget how old Ryuk was. How much he’d seen and done already. 

He pushed through another wall of bushes, breaking out into a brighter portion of the forest. Brighter because it was a clearing. With a massive, towering tree growing up from the ground. 

A tree that had red fruit dotted throughout its branches. 

“Yes, now this is a delicious date,” Ryuk purred, flapping his wings to reach the high branches. Light coughed at those words, approaching the thick tree trunk to peer up at the apples above. 

“I wasn’t sure it would still be here,” the shinigami sighed, returning to the boy’s side as he bit into one of the glossy red fruits, “humans have already destroyed so much.” 

What a morbid thought. 

Light watched him devour the apple with only a couple bites from his fanged mouth. It disappeared down his pale gullet, that tongue slinking out to lick away any juice remaining on his dark cut lips.

“Are you having fun?” 

He smirked, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants. Light looked up into the tree again, idly wondering what the world had been like the last time Ryuk was here. 

“Yeah, I am. Thanks, Ryuk.” 

The best date he’d ever been on, was with a shinigami. A god of death. And Light didn’t even mind. 

“Hey, will you tell me a story?” 

“I’d be happy to.”


End file.
